This Brazilian release pairs a group of the elegant popular songs of composer
Antonio Carlos Jobim and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes (who also wrote The Girl from Ipanema and conceived the original Black Orpheus) with five of
Astor Piazzolla's tango compositions. All the works are arranged for string orchestra; the
Piazzolla arrangements are those by José Bragato. It's an interesting idea, for when
Piazzolla's music is joined with that of other composers, they have generally been from the classical side. The pairing brings home how unusual
Piazzolla's music was;
Jobim's songs, whose interpreters included
Frank Sinatra, were marvels of jazz-pop sophistication, but
Piazzolla's music bridged diverse realms in a unique way. The program would have been stronger, however, if it had included some vocal music by
Piazzolla rather than just the instrumental works offered here, several of them impressionistic pieces rather than tangos. The virtually useless booklet (there is no commentary at all and song texts are in Portuguese only, and butchered Portuguese at that) advertises a text by
Piazzolla in El Calambre, track 8, but the piece is instrumental. As the disc stands, there's a lurch between the
Jobim and
Piazzolla works, and Brazil's Orchestra de Câmara de Blumenau (Chamber Orchestra of Blumenau) doesn't make the transition from accompaniment to freestanding entity effectively. The 1985 recording is sonically problematical; there's lots of background noise, and when vocalist Ãngela Barra reaches the top of her range she hits a wall of distortion. In spite of all these problems, the disc has an offbeat quality that's appealing; Barra's silvery soprano is well matched to the subtle romantic quality that distinguishes
Jobim's music, and the
Piazzolla set mixes familiar pieces (Primavera Porteña) with comparative rarities (Berceuse). A listenable commute disc if you like either
Piazzolla or
Jobim and have heard of the other composer -- the flavors of South American sophistication are many.